Bronco men’s basketball starts season with scrimmage

Bronco fans were treated to a preview of Boise State’s 2013-14 men’s basketball team with a last-minute scrimmage before the football team’s matchup against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles during Parent and Family Weekend.

Roughly 1,500 fans, mostly family members of Bronco students, cycled through the Bronco Gymnasium for a three game scrimmage— formatted into an eight minute game, followed by a six minute game and then finally a four minute game.

The Orange squad won the first game 10-9 off of a buzz beater from redshirt sophomore Mikey Thompson before coming back and winning the final game 15-8.

The Blue squad won the second game 13-6.

Head coach Leon Rice addressed the fans in between the first and second games, thanking them for their support and how excited he and the entire program is for the upcoming season.

Considering the scrimmage was thrown together earlier in the week, Rice was extremely pleased with the fan turnout and support.

“[The turnout] was terrific,” Rice said. “We didn’t get out and pound the pavement because we know this place isn’t very big, but it was a pretty full arena and it had a pretty nice atmosphere.”

Rice let his assistant coaches do most of the work—appreciating the opportunity to “be omnipotent and just sit around and look over everything.”

“It’s important to give the guys an opportunity to be in front of the fans and get under the whistles a little bit,” Rice said. “You can do some really good teaching off of film.”

Saturday’s scrimmage offered Bronco fans the opportunity to see the members of Boise State’s recruiting class in action in only their second official day of practice.

With Friday being the first day the NCAA allows basketball teams to practice, Rice was not surprised at the rust he saw from the Broncos’ veterans and how the newcomers seemed a bit overwhelmed.

“You know [the new guys] seem pretty good,” Rice said. “They’re trying to do what we asked. We’ve given them a lot to understand and when you throw so much at them their heads are spinning. We got everyone under the lights though which got some of that rust off.”

Rice mentioned that Saturday’s free scrimmage may become a new tradition that the Broncos hold every year. He wants to continue to allow the fans to see the new Broncos in jersey for the first time.

“Are we ready to play a game? By no means,” Rice said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do but it’s only the second day so I’ll give the guys a break.”

Boise State opens their season with an exhibition against Lewis-Clark State on Nov. 1 before officially tipping off the season a week later against UT-Arlington.

Only a sophomore, Nate has already become the big man on campus. He was named the Sports Editor after working as a staff writer his freshman year. With a future in coaching and teaching, Nate enjoys writing and covering sports on the side after spending the past three years in the business. Nate is a fitness and health junkie, and is also an extreme cinema buff. If you ever need to find Nate, he can usually be found on the top of Table Rock or on his couch binge watching Netflix.